I'm NOT
going to Nationals!I was not happy that USA Cycling
altered the call up procedures this year for the Masters from the top 10
of the previous year getting front staging to the top 8. I was 10th last
year. After the top 8, order of registration was used. Registration
opened up in early Sept late at night, and I didn't sign up thinking I was all set
with last year's result. 2 days after it opened, USA Cycling changed the
procedure to top 8 so my call up was gone. There were already over 100
guys pre-reg'd. I was pissed so I decided I was NOT going.

Maybe I should go?I was riding well winning races locally so 14 days out I bought a
re-useable ticket on Southwest airlines in case I changed my mind. If I didn't go, I had 12
months to use the funds toward another flight. I tried to contact USA
Cycling to plead my case for staging and it fell on deaf ears. I had
local cx'er Adam Austin graciously offer to give me his third row spot
since he could not go. The promoter approved it, but it was against the
"no transfers/no refunds" rule and again USA Cycling was not budging and would not
let registration make the switch. Ok, fine. I'm not going. Then on
Wed before the race, Dave Sheek sent me a bunch of pictures of the
course along with the message "there's lots of room to pass and lots of
climbing - it's your type of course." The weather outlook was good
for me -
dry. There was a little bit of snow left on the course, but it should
melt fast with the predicted warm temps.

I guess I'm
goingSo Wednesday night before a Thursday flight, I
decided to give it a shot from the back. I convinced myself that I could
move up and compete for the win or at least a top 5 position. Top 5 was
my minimum goal. Thinking 'dry' I packed one bike with 4 wheels
and flew out. I arrived in Kansas City to cold and light rain. What the
heck? It supposed to be dry! The weather here is clearly unpredictable!

Friday - course preview dayI still hadn't signed
up so I went to registration, filled out the forms, and forked over the
$65 to get a number. Boy, did I get my money's worth - #2245 - the
highest cross number I'd ever seen. I asked the guy, "are you sure this
is
right? This number seems awfully high." "Yep, all race site registrations use
these two thousand plus numbers." I asked about staging again and
was told to talk to USA Cycling's Tom Vinson, which I did. We discussed
the staging issue, and basically Tom said he couldn't make an exception for
me or everyone would complain and it would be a huge fiasco. He said top
8 was "easier to mange" than top 10. Ok, fine.
From dead last it is. Time to make a plan on how to get up front!

I went down to staging for Friday afternoon's Masters 45-49 to watch and
learn. They had an 8-wide grid on a paved road, but to my liking was the
fact that there was a barricade on only one side of the grid. The other
side was a 5 foot grass/dirt sideline. One official was calling up the riders in groups of
8 (each row) and then a second official was checking off each number
present. The second official went through every row and every rider. So
there was no chance of rolling up and standing where Adam should've been
especially with my
huge #2245 sticking out like a sore thumb. So the
plan became to accept the dead last start, clip in quickly, and
hopefully use the right side to move up fast while the back guys are
just getting going.

Saturday - Race Day, Masters 40-44I arrived plenty early, tested some tires during the Noon open
course period, and settled on Challenge XS 32 file tread rear and grifo 32 front. It was very windy, but the course had dried up and it
was not muddy. It was a very soft play-doh like spongy surface that
sucked your tires in and made it feel very slow. But it was not sticking
to the bikes (only the tires somewhat) so bike swaps were not going to
be necessary except for flats or mechanicals. I got a decent warm up in and headed over
to the start at 1:50 for the 2pm whistle.

The staging went as expected and I stayed warm and relaxed in the
very back. I could not even see the front rows. 112 starters! At the
whistle, the back rows were not even moving so I carefully used my
"secret line" up the right and moved up. I veered back left onto the pavement
and hit the gas sharply - like pedal to the metal! I was moving up the
start/finish stretch in a
big gear onto the grass and into the first 90 degree turn. Naturally,
the expected pileup happened here, but I got around it to the right by
going into
the deep grass next to the woods. I lost my momentum and was in way too big
of a gear, but I got going again and started the passing session.

I was moving up quickly weaving in and out of guys one-by-one. One big guy pushed
me to my right as I passed and knocked me into the orange metal
barricades, which stung and took a chunk out of my knuckle. Unfazed, I kept moving
fast and stayed completely focused on reaching the leaders. By the time
we reached the top of the long climb (several minutes long, but broken into
sections), I had made contact with the lead group of about 10 riders led
by Jonny Bold and Richard Feldman. It was a big effort to get there, and
in the heat of the moment I don't think I realized how many matches I
was burning to do it.

Upon
reaching the run up at the top, I had a dropped chain and at the same
time, Feldman got away with Bold. I
rode through the rest of the lead guys and beginning lap 2, Roger Aspholm had caught me and we were 3rd/4th. The next time up the long
climbing sections, I did not feel nearly as good as lap 1. I was
hurting! Roger left me and I was alone in 4th. I was not moving up any
more. Ending the 3rd lap, Michael Wissink
caught me. We had 3 to go. He sat on me on the paved section and then
attacked in the dirt so I never really got on his wheel. I was in 5th
(last podium spot) and suffering even worse. The first lap effort had
taken a toll. Meanwhile, up front Aspholm had ridden up
to Feldman, while Bold was fading and dropping back. He was soon passed by Wissink
for 3rd.

With 2 to go, I was still in 5th. Bold was 10
seconds ahead in 4th, and Todd Hoefer was 10 seconds behind me in 6th. I
wanted to catch Bold and at minimum hold off Hoefer to make the
podium. I stepped up the pace and was red lining, but I was catching Bold.
Then disaster struck - coming into the fast double barrier section, I
caught a toe spike on the first barrier and tripped. I hit the deck hard
on my
left side and my bike bounced to the ground and smashed into the second barrier.
I jumped up fast, yanked my handlebars straight and remounted. My left
shifter was bent all the way in so I yanked that back to the left, and
started pedaling in a panic; I was shaken. Hoefer was now close to me, but
he did
not pass or make contact.

1 to go, I gave everything up
the last climb to keep my top 5 spot and the gap opened back up to ~ 10 seconds. There was a
lot of lapped traffic on the last 3 laps of the race. The difference in
speed between the front and back of the race was huge. Most of these
guys got out of the way, but there's always a few clueless ones out there
that don't
yield the trail. Mostly I got through them ok. The last time over the
barriers I made sure to step higher and I got over safe. I checked my gap
to Hoefer was still holding 10 seconds! I had it. So I carefully passed a few more lapped guys and hit
the pavement to take 'er home for 5th.

THEN, THE
UNBELIEVABLE
HAPPENED!!
I was sitting on the tops "cruising" toward the line, and
with 10 yards to go I sensed a rider sprinting up to me. I glanced and
it's not Hoefer. My brain said, "Why is a lapped rider trying to
out-sprint you?" There was no time to react, this guy nips past me at
the line as the announcer says "Prenzlow comes in for 5th." I'm
thinking, "what just happened?" The "lapped rider" was Rich McClung, who
it turns out
was behind Hoefer in 7th most of the race. I asked him after the
race, and he said he caught and passed Hoefer with 1/2 a lap to go at the
top of the hill. With lapped riders all over the place, I had not
spotted him at all and was marking the wrong person at the end. OMG! How
horrible. So I had 5th, but I blew it and moved myself right off the
podium. No one else watching/cheering for me had spotted this guy either
- everyone thought I had 5th including cxmagazine.com and the
announcers. Crazy! I won't be making that mistake again...

I'll Be Back Next year at a TBD location - starting on the front row this time!
I'm hoping for a west coast venue. Rumor is Bend, OR or Spokane, WA.

Adding Insult to InjuryAfter the race, still in
shock I checked the results to make sure it wasn't a mistake. Sure
enough. 6th. The results sheet had every single rider's first name,
hometown, and team name wrong. It looked like some kind of sorting/database
error. I did not report it figuring that they would surely correct
that on their own. Later, when I got back to the hotel that night I looked up the
results online. Sure enough, they corrected every single rider's
information EXCEPT for mine. Awesome!! So I'm now Jeff Prenzlow from
Vancouver, B.C. BTW, how does a rider from Canada compete in the United
States
National Championships?